Rex's Scare
by mistyblue814
Summary: After a mild heart attack, Rex must come to terms with his body working against him, but finds that his family grew without him knowing. {warning, pretty morbid}


It was a rather quiet day, almost night as the Ghost Crew landed on Phoenix Home after completing a run with Rex. They had managed to sneak onto an Imperial freighter with the help of Fulcrum and raid it of much needed blaster and metal supplies for ships and weapons. At the end of it when Rex placed the last box in the Ghost, he had felt a small clench in his chest, but thought nothing of it. He was on a mission. So, he stayed quiet and by the time they made it to Phoenix Home, he had forgotten about the experience.

Rex was convinced to leave for a break with the others before they took the new items onto supply room in the base and that was when Rex couldn't ignore a slight pulsing in his chest again.

They had barely made it off the Ghost before Rex suddenly felt dizzy, his chest feeling as though it was being wrapped tightly. As he saw the others start to walk ahead, their pace getting a little faster and their laughter getting louder, he grew more silent and slower as confusion set in. He set his hand to his chest, almost feeling as though he ran head first into a brick wall.

Rex gulped. He tried to take a breath in, but it was like there was something blocking his airway. He grunted a bit, taken slightly by surprise by the fact that his chest suddenly felt like it was stone, or that ropes were so tightly bound around it. He tries to huff his chest out but it did not do anything. In fact, it hurt more. Rex stopped, putting his hand against the wall to lean against it. He tried to breathe in again, but found the same tightness coming in.

Kanan was the first to sense that something was wrong and stopped. That caught the attention of the others and they stopped as well while Kanan turned around. Before anyone could ask what was wrong, they all turned around as well and noticed that their companion had stopped and, even more worrisome, was leaning against the wall.

"Rex?" Kanan asked.

Hearing Kanan's voice and realizing he was now in all their attention, Rex felt like he was on the spot.

"I…I…uh…" Rex kept trying to gulp. His hand found his way to his chest, a bit over his heart. He grunted a bit, wondering why it felt like he was almost going into a crouching position. He was looking at the ground, trying to focus on breathing and therefore didn't see the concern that started to appear in the Ghost crew's expressions.

"Rex?" Hera asked, walking towards him. She held out her hands but then stopped cautiously, wondering where she should touch. She didn't know what was wrong, but she knew something _was_ wrong.

"Uh…" Rex coughed a bit, trying to clear his voice and get more air, "my…my chest is really tight…I…I can't breathe."

The sudden dread that filled the Ghost crew was instantaneous. Hera nodded and took in a deep breath herself to make sure her voice was level.

"Alright, alright. Sit down. Maybe that will help." Hera suggested, quickly looking around for a chair.

"I'll get the doctor!" Sabine told them before she bolted down the hallway.

"Maybe we should start walking him down to the med centre," Zeb suggested as Ezra went to find a chair for Rex to sit on.

"I'm not so sure he should be walking right now," Hera answered. She looked over her shoulder to find out if Ezra was coming back soon. She didn't like how Rex was starting to double over. She moved to help hold him up.

"Try and take deep breaths," Hera told him, turning her head to check on Ezra again. She saw him rush back into the room with an old stool-like chair. Hera moved a bit so Ezra could move to place it behind Rex.

"Rex, try and sit down," Hera told him gently.

Both Ezra and Hera helped Rex to sit down in the chair, Ezra keeping his hands on Rex's side and back to help direct him onto the chair. The clone was still bent a little over, his mouth open and trying to breathe, but he sat down without problems. Hera moved to crouch down slightly so she was more at level with him. She was worried, but she needed to appear calm. If Rex was having a heart attack or stroke then she wanted to get as much information as she may be able to get so she may be able to do something.

"Can I take your hands?" she asked.

Rex moved them off of his knees and towards her direction. Hera placed her hands in his. Both seemed to hold hers strongly, but she wanted to check a couple of things.

"Can you squeeze my hands?" Hera asked him calmly.

Rex did so. Hera didn't notice a difference in either. Both were strong and had the same hard squeeze.

Hera looked up at him. He didn't seem to be having cold sweats.

"Do you feel light headed? Like you're going to pass out?" Hera asked him.

"No…kind of," Rex admitted, "it's more a headache."

"Is there any pain? Or just tightness?" Hera asked.

"Tightness," Rex grunted, "some pain in my shoulders and arms though."

Hera nodded and looked back at the others. They were all pale, holding their breaths. Hera felt sick to her stomach herself. It wasn't fair to think and Hera knew it, but all she could think about was what was taking Sabine was so long. Perhaps Zeb could help her and Kanan carry Rex on the stool towards the med-bay so that they could meet at a closer spot.

Hera looked back at Rex and noticed he was starting to look more pale. She noticed that Rex started to rock and she immediately moved her hands out of his and moved up to help support him, one hand on the side of his back and the other on his chest.

"Rex, you're starting to sway," Hera told him.

Kanan stepped forward to help hold his other side. Rex was still looking at the ground, breathing hard, his hands now in a fist. Kanan got into a similar position that Hera was in, ready to hold Rex in case he leaned over too far on one side.

"I need you to tell us if you think that you are going to pass out, alright, so we are ready for you," Kanan told him.

The old clone nodded and mumbled something, but the sound was drowned by the sound of rushed footsteps and some type of metal wheels on the floor. Hera looked down the hallway to see Sabine leading a few medical droids and nurses down, bringing a stretcher along with them. Hera sighed with a bit of relief, moving a bit so that it would be easier for the nurses to get to him.

Soon enough, Hera, Kanan, and the nurses were all helping Rex onto the gurney, helping him to lay down. Hera saw the he was pale, eyes a little wide and still breathing deeply. When he gripped her hand, she squeezed back and followed them back to medbay.

~.~

The smell of medicine and cleaner was what Rex first noticed as he slowly came to his senses. The next was that he was on something soft…and something soft was over him too. There was something pressing on one of his fingers and something in the top of his hand as well. There was something plastic around his face, thin and under his nose, seeming to move into it as well. It was most uncomfortable. The next was some type of high-pitched squeaking. He winced slightly, grunting a little at the noise that seemed to pierce his ears.

"Rex?"

He winced slightly at the new voice, yet one that was so familiar. The voice he heard so many times from so many people, yet in so many different ways.

"Rex, you can wake up," it was the same voice, yet from a different person with a different voice personality.

The light finally started to show behind his eyes. It was all grey before things slowly started to turn and orange to a yellow. There were grey shadows as well, ones that moved in fast motion as they leaned towards him.

"Rex?" Wolffe? "Can you hear me?"

He groaned again, trying to find strength in the new environment. He wanted to say yes, but he couldn't quite open his own mouth yet. He could move his body though. His fingers, hand moved slightly closer to the shadow. He felt a hand grab it back as it got closer and hard, calloused fingers seize his own. Rex grunted a bit and moved his head, forcing his mouth to slowly open, but nothing came out but another hum that ended in a grunt.

"Rex?" the other voice…Gregor.

Rex let out a sigh and his eyes slowly opened in slits. At first the light blinded him, but after a couple of seconds, the blinking turned shine to faces and beings. The first he saw was Wolffe. He was leaning over the bed a little bit, holding Rex's hand that he had outstretched towards him. Gregor was on the other side of the bed…and farther away were other faces. Faces he knew, faces that expressed worry.

The Ghost crew sat in their own chairs more off to the side while Kanan stood. He leaned a little closer to the bed as he sensed Rex coming more alert. The others moved in a little closer as well, noticing that he was becoming awake.

"Wh-what happened?" Rex gruffed with a rough voice, looking between Wolffe and Gregor. "What are you doing here?"

"We're here for you of course, you di'kut," Wolffe grunted, though the growl in his voice was softer than normal.

"Yeah, the Jedi contacted us and said you were in the medbay," Gregor agreed, though his voice was still a lot brighter than Wolffe's.

Rex looked towards Kanan and told him, "you didn't have to do that."

"Yes, I did," Kanan told him, "just in case something else happened. They had a right to know."

"They even sent us a ship to pick us up," Gregor commented.

Rex looked up at Hera, "You really didn't need to do that, Captain."

Hera gave him a small smile.

"It wasn't any problem," Hera too him. "We were happy to do it."

Rex nodded, turning to look between his brothers again. They looked older, but he supposed that he did too. Wolffe's hairline was receding a bit more and it looked like he had more wrinkles close to his eyes while it looked like Gregor had shaved recently, but the stubble was coming back.

"What happened?" Rex asked. "I remember that it hurt to breathe."

There was a bit of silence before Hera got up off her chair and moved towards Rex so that it was easier to talk to him.

"You had a very minor heart attack," Hera explained to him. "More like heart arrhythmia."

Rex nodded, grunting a little as he shuffled a bit in the bed, trying to get into a more comfortable position. He sighed and asked, "how long do they want me in here?"

"A couple of days," Hera told him. "They want to monitor your condition. Sometimes this can happen again in a short time. They want to monitor if it's now a more…chronic condition. They might give you a pacemaker if they think it is necessary."

"Has there been anything else?" Rex asked.

"So far your heart rate is…stable. A little fast and you have high blood pressure, but you were sleeping. They want to monitor you when you are more awake and active."

Rex nodded and grumbled at the thought of being locked in the med bay for a couple of days. He always hated any type of medical centre. He was remembered from the days of the Clone Wars, of the smells of blood and bacta and death mixed with the imprint of the image of injuries that would be forever engrained in his brain.

"Is there any possibly way that I can leave sooner?" Rex asked. "I feel fine."

The silence that came after those words alarmed him. He stared between every face in confusion. There was a sudden nervousness and anxiety on everyone's faces.

"What?" Rex asked.

Everyone looked at each other, but it was Hera to speak up first. She put on a brave face, but sighed.

"Rex, you're going to need to slow it down," Hera told him. "If you stay then you won't be going on any more field missions."

He was struck with shock and silence for a couple of seconds. Rex stared at her, confused and shocked by her suggestion. His mouth was gaped open for a couple of seconds as his eyes stared between them before he shook his head. He looked at Wolffe and could see how he agreed just by the look in his eye. Feeling betrayed, Rex moved his hand from Wolffe's as though it was electrified. He tried to keep his face composed though.

Rex grunted, "Not to sound whiny but…"

Hera didn't give him a chance to finish.

" _No_ , Rex," she told him gently, but sternly as she took another step forward. "You had a scare yesterday, you need to take it easy from here on out."

"It could barely be called a heart attack," Rex argued.

"It was still enough to kill you, Rex," Hera told him gently. "Sato and I agree that you need to slow it down for your health. We're not saying that you can't be a part of the rebellion, but you can't be going on field missions anymore. It's too dangerous for your health."

"Captain, I want to go giving it my all. I always have, I always will," Rex told her.

"I understand that," Hera told him, "but we want to keep you here as long as we can, Rex. Not being in field missions doesn't mean giving it your all. You're still giving yourself to the rebellion."

Rex huffed and leaned more into the pillows, irritated that he knew he wouldn't win this. The others frowned and Kanan took a step towards him.

"Rex, it's nothing against you. It's not saying you aren't strong enough," Kanan tried to reason with him.

"That is exactly what you are saying," Rex countered angrily.

"Rex," Wolffe told him gently, trying to calm him down too.

"I would rather die bravely on a battlefield or mission than I would with some damn heart attack," Rex told them. "That's what I was made for! That's how my brothers died! They died bravely and I will not sit back and just let my body waste me!"

Wolffe sighed and moved a hand over his eyes. He moved it down again and looked at Rex sadly.

"Rex," Kanan tried again gently, but Rex cut him off.

"I bet that we are the same age, if not a couple of years off. It's got to be pretty damn close," Rex told him angrily.

"Rex, please calm down," Wolffe tried, slight fear coming to him that all this anger might trigger something again, but the other clone gave him no mind. It was as though he didn't even hear him.

"I'm like this and you are like you. I didn't get to chose this! I never got to chose anything until a couple of years ago! And I want to chose how I go now!" Rex told him angrily. "I'm twenty-seven! I shouldn't be like this!"

Everyone's frowns got deeper and Sabine and Zeb looked down. Wolffe sighed before running a hand down his face. As much as he agreed, and couldn't deny what Rex was saying, he was worried about what this could be doing for Rex in his condition. Hera frowned as well and she turned to the others. Maybe it was time to make things a bit more private so Rex wouldn't feel as embarrassed.

"Zeb, Sabine, Ezra, can you wait outside," Hera told them in a way where they knew it was not actually a question.

Although the three Spectors did not want to leave, they obeyed their Captain before her tone got slightly harsher when she addressed them with the same request. Zeb moved off his seat first, looking at the others who soon came up as well. Ezra, being the last to leave, looked behind him before shutting the door. Hera sighed and turned back to Rex, the room somehow more silent than before.

"Rex, please try to understand that we want to do this because we care about you," Hera told him. "We don't want you dying anytime soon."

"I get to decide how I die, Captain," Rex told her firmly. "That is my right."

Hera stared at him, thinking about which words she would use. She needed to chose her words carefully. She didn't want him getting all upset again.

"You're right," Hera agreed with him. "That is your decision. We aren't trying to say it isn't, but Rex we say this because we care. All of us were terrified yesterday. We aren't asking you to leave the rebellion and we don't want you to just stay in a hospital bed for the rest of your life, we are just asking you to slow things down for a while until we are sure that you are alright again."

"I've never had a decision about this before, Hera. I've let it get taken away from me and I won't let it happen again," Rex told her angrily, almost snarling, but Hera took it without a blink of an eye.

"We aren't telling you to give up Rex, we just ask that you stay out of hard runs until we know for sure you are well enough to go through them without this happening again," Hera tried to explain.

Rex rolled his eyes and growled, "you're not listening to me!"

"We are," Wolffe tried to explain to him. "We hear what you are saying, Rex, but we are worried about you. You aren't listening to us either."

"We just want to make sure that before you go into field missions again that your health is good," Kanan tried to tell him.

"I'm not going to wait around and do nothing," Rex insisted.

Kanan sighed, closing his eyes. He didn't know, he honestly didn't know if he should pull this argument, but it was worth a shot. It may be the only thing to get him to listen.

"Rex," Kanan started carefully, knowing he was moving on thin ice, "think about what Ahso—"

Wolffe had never heard the tone of snarl that Rex had made before.

" _Don't you dare bring her into this_!" Rex snarled at him. "You left her! You don't get to tell me what she would want!"

"Rex, please listen to him," Gregor insisted.

"Ahsoka wouldn't want you doing stupid things like going out into hard field missions when you just had a heart attack," Kanan told him, speaking through any attempts Rex made to try and speak out. "You know that she wouldn't want you doing something like that. She'd want you to take your time and get back when you were ready to physically."

Rex glared at him, his shoulders still shaking before he felt a hand on his. Rex looked over and saw Wolffe's hand on his shoulder.

"He's right," Wolffe told him gently. "She wouldn't want you to get back in the field too quickly after something like this."

Rex stared at him, his shoulder's sinking. He didn't want to think about that, he didn't want to think of _her_. Thinking of her hurt too much ever since that mission. As much as he missed her, he didn't want to catch himself on her now. It would hurt. Yet as he looked at all the others, her face came to mind. Slowly the barriers broke just by that memory before her voice came too, her stern and pointed look.

No.

No she wouldn't want him to go back out yet.

Rex's shoulders sank completely and he stared at them tiredly. Hera took it as a time to speak up again and try to reach out to him. He wouldn't admit to them how scary that experience was, realizing that he couldn't breathe. How everything felt tight and he thought that if he closed his eyes he wouldn't be opening them again.

"We just want you to take it easy around here until we are sure your heart is in good health again," Hera told him. "We do this because we _care_ about you, Rex. We're not asking you to leave or anything, we just want you to stay out of the field until your strength comes back."

"And what if it doesn't?" Rex asked.

There was silence again. Wolffe realized it was his time to take the lead now again.

"Rex," Wolffe sighed, "we need to accept that we aren't what we were anymore. It's not fair. We shouldn't be like this and our bodies shouldn't be working this much against us, but they are. We're getting older, Rex. You need to accept that."

Rex shook his head.

"It was only sixteen years ago," Rex whispered.

"I know," Wolffe agreed, "but that's our reality. You need to slow down and take things a bit easier."

"We care about you, Rex. We aren't questioning your abilities and we don't want you to leave," Hera told him.

Rex was silent, leaning back into the pillows again. He stared at all the faces and Hera moved closer, sitting beside Gregor on the bed. Kanan moved in a little bit closer too. Rex looked around, the circle of people around him with gentle and calming faces, a connection together with him.

"I can ask if you can be moved to your room for rest after a day or two. I know this is uncomfortable," Hera told him.

Rex nodded.

"That would be appreciated." Rex admitted.

Hera nodded, a small smile on her face.

"Don't worry about it," Hera told him. "Let us take care of you for a change, okay?"

Rex rolled his eyes.

"Maybe," he told her.

Hera chuckled and looked towards Gregor when he began to speak.

"And we'll be here too until you're better!" Gregor told him with a slight smile.

"We've made those arrangements too," Kanan told him.

Rex looked towards Wolffe and tried not to laugh. He could only imagine Wolffe around the Ghost crew and the others again. But he had to admit that he was glad that they would be here. They spent years together in close quarters and when he left, it was…different. Almost like a home sickness.

Staring at Hera and Kanan, he realized how he got through that. He wished the others were in the room too. Ezra was the one who convinced him to leave and join the rebellion, but all of them had accepted him. He didn't know if they did it consciously, he didn't even realize it was happening consciously, but they had created another type of bond, a type of closeness for him to attach to again. Rex had never been alone in his life from Kamino to the Clone Wars to after Order 66, Rex was always with brothers and family. He had felt lonely for years after joining the rebellion, but he realized that he was not nearly as alone as he thought.

"Alright, Captain," Rex told her, making Hera smile. "I'll co-operate."

"Good," Hera sighed with relief.

Rex nodded. Although all of them were scared, they didn't know that they still had almost seven more years with Rex by their side. They had time.


End file.
